It's all part of the statewide investigation into environmental crimes by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Along with the attorney general, the organization said it uncovered the decade-long hazardous waste fuel scheme, spanning the entire state.
This is interesting. Waste gasoline from junkyard cars is still gasoline. It is unarguably -poor quality- gas, but is it "hazardous waste"? If mixed in proportion to "acceptable" gas, I can't imagine any damage to engines or even catalytic converters, and I wouldn't think that there would be any pollutants in it that the catalytic converters could not handle. Assuming they limited their collection to California scrapyards, it would certainly be of California's mandatory formulation so no violations there. Yeah, yeah, if they mixed waste diesel in it, but why would they? It would just damage their business model, and the diesel has its own value, sold separately.
ReplyDeleteCertainly, they are guilty of overcharging for the quality of gas sold, but that is an entirely separate question. I would be hiring a good chemist for the defense team, and fighting this hard.
Federal and state laws on haz waste don't always make sense and are often times quite stupid. For example, let's say I have a tote of chemical XYZ that will be a raw material for an upcoming production run. The XYZ material is hazardous (as are nearly all flammable hydrocarbons), but still a viable raw material. The production run gets cancelled and my boss orders me to clear out the tote. I now have to dispose of it. The second that decision is made, XYZ instantly becomes a hazardous waste. Not thru any degradation of the product, but simply the decision to use it or trash it.
DeleteThere are dozens of other examples, but long story short, some taxes didn't get paid and some bureaucrat found an easy case to prosecute.
Does gas have a "Use By" date?
ReplyDeleteKinda, it will eventually turn into a gummy substance that will clog up your fuel system...... Granted it will take awhile but since you have no idea how long ago the gas was refined it's best to use it or put a stabilizer in it before storing it
DeleteJD
I’ve spent a long time cleaning out the “varnish” caused by leaving gasoline inside of a carburetor.
DeleteCan’t imagine what it would do to fuel rails, and injectors.
I know all about that varnishing when I left a motorcycle for a long time without turning the engine over years ago. What I meant is where at the pump is the "Use By" date displayed like they have on the cans of beans I buy.
DeleteSounds more like a tax code violation.
ReplyDeletePurity of product not meeting spec? maybe. I wonder about that with bulk feed. How much dirt or floor sweepings can you add without getting caught? 1-4%? 4% is pretty good if your norm is a 1% margin
Why would you make contracts, especially if you knew you were skirting the rules down stream?
The taxes on that gas was already paid when it was pumped into the original vehicle's tank.
DeleteThere's dumb and then there is California. Can't even believe this is news. The only this this article does is shed a little light on why there are still occupants in California. I used to think their government was especially dumb, but then I remembered people still live there.
ReplyDeleteGasoline has a shelf life of about six months if stored properly. After that, it begins to oxidize and turn to varnish, gumming everything up. Go to a junk yard and pop a gas cap and smell. It will have a sour smell if it's been in there a while. Adding Stabil to it will prolong that to several years. That does not apply to fuel with ethanol in it, it starts to break down in about 45 days and draws moisture (water) like crazy. That is really hard on modern fuel injectors and small engines with carburetors. Eod1sg Ret
ReplyDeleteA vehicle with 20 year old gas will still start and smell funky, but a car parked for 5 years will have a mostly green funky fuel system with a lot of solids an gel that doesn't flow.
DeleteStored and ignored 15 gallons treated with stabilizer and it was good three years later.
DeleteI use stabilizer in 10 gallons of gas from fall to spring for my garden tractor. Fires right up and used it all up over the summer. Never had a problem. -sammy
DeleteFrom the story it sounds like they only sent one tanker to pick up the waste gas, and it was a shoestring operation so I have no doubt that diesel and rainwater was mixed in, plus bird poop and God knows what.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Cali isn't the only state where this is happening.
Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb! Now put toxic hazardous wastes into the gas and sell it to stations. That is better than free, taking an expensive waste disposal problem and turning it into a profit center.
ReplyDeleteGavin stuck his dick on it...
ReplyDelete